Downtown

Things to do in Downtown

Far cooler than the typical souvenir shop, Pure Detroit incorporates local products and the city’s automotive heritage into hip gifts and collectibles. Handbags and belts made from actual seat belts are hot items, followed closely by Pewabic tiles and stylish clothing.

Wildly popular in summer, RiverWalk stretches along the water for 2.5 miles of fountains, walkways, and green space starting at the Cobo Hall convention center. Most folks come simply to stroll, fish, or park themselves on a bench and take in the Windsor skyline across the way.

With a Vegas-esque level of luxury, complete with plasma TV’s in bathroom mirrors, the MGM Grand is a rare find in the Motor City. When this $800 million property opened in October 2007, most of the focus was on the glitzy 100,000-square-foot casino and roster of celebrity chef-run restaurants.

The sort of store bibliophiles dream about is housed in an old glove factory in the shadow of historic Corktown. Row after row of books—more than a million in total—fill four hardwood-floor levels permeated with that wonderful, slightly musty smell of old paper.